Mystery murders: alarm as another girl's body found in Homa Bay
Her body was found dumped near Koyani market Wednesday by a resident whose curiosity was drawn by a foul smell emanating from a bush. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The minor identified as Elizabeth Awino was a class five pupil at Ngodhe Primary School.
- She went missing from her home on Friday April 3.
The decomposing body of a 13-year-old girl who went missing last week was found dumped in a thicket next to her home in Seka A village, Mbita in Homa Bay County on Thursday, barely a week after another similar incident in Kisumu County.
The minor identified as Elizabeth Awino was a class five pupil at Ngodhe Primary School. She went missing from her home on Friday April 3.
Her body was found dumped near Koyani market Wednesday by a resident whose curiosity was drawn by a foul smell emanating from a bush where the body was lying in Ruri West sub-location.
Area assistant chief Charles Oloo said the minor could have been killed elsewhere and her body dumped there.
The administrator said he has established that the pupil was sent by her mother to a neigbouring home to pick a scarf on the day she went missing.
“Her failure to return home prompted her family to look for her. No one knew her whereabouts until her body was found dumped in the bush,” Mr Oloo said.
He said his office is working with local police officers to establish what or who could have killed the girl.
Her body was taken to Homa Bay Referral Mortuary for a post-mortem.
Her death comes barely a week after another teen was found killed and her body dumped next to her parents’ home in Urudi village, Nyahera in Kisumu County.
The body of the class seven girl who is alleged to have disappeared a day earlier after delivering drinking water to her mother who was tilling her land a few meters from their home was found badly mutilated and lying by the roadside, 200 meters from their house.
Residents said they suspected her murder was part of ritual killings in the region targeting girls aged between 8 and 14 years.
Police were forced to lob tear gas to disperse angry crowds of villagers before forcibly carrying away the body of the 13-year-old girl, a Standard 7 pupil at Ogada Primary School.
Angry residents had resisted attempts by police to carry away the body, saying that they have not resolved pending past cases.
“We have had enough of this and we will not allow our innocent children to be butchered like animals. There is no need for the police to carry the body since they have so many unresolved cases pending,” a local, Mr Charles Otieno, said.
